We work to keep our clients, community, and coworkers up to date on all pertinent information on risk. Flood Insurance Reform has been a huge issue over the past year, as many unintentional consequences of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Act of 2012 were hurting constituents. Finally there has been a break for those who were severely impacted by the Flood Reform. If you are reading this – this most likely means you are affected – so this is good news!
Congress finally acted, and a new bill, Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014, was put into law.
For some background our past blog update can be found here. Below is a highlight from the national insurance association, the IIABA – or Big “I”:
Among other things, H.R. 3370 would repeal both Section 205’s “bought/sold” provision and the entirety of Section 207 of Biggert-Waters. Because these two provisions were responsible for much of the “sticker shock” associated with Biggert-Waters, the new law will provide much-needed relief to flood insureds.
Highlight from Wikipedia:
The Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014 (S. 1926) is a bill that would delay the increases in flood insurance premiums that were part of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012.The reforms from that law were meant to require flood insurance premiums to actually reflect the real risk of flooding, which led to an increase in premiums. The National Flood Insurance Program is currently $24 billion in debt and taxpayers will be forced to pay for any additional payouts until that situation is solved.
